Wraith

by Shane Smithers

  Madam Chartreuse started moaning louder, standing and raising her hands above her head. Her veil fell back showing her elegant features. She pressed her hands together and then parted them in a wide arc until her arms were outstretched, her head back, so that she stood like a crucifix.

  ‘Ooooooohhhh,’ she moaned loudly, swaying her hips. She glided her right foot forward and then around behind her. Suddenly, she clapped her hands hard together. There was a spark and a vivid splash of green light and then she was gone. Wilson let out a shriek.

  ‘Bravo!’ cheered Erebus, clapping. Then, realising that she really had disappeared, he said, ‘You’ll have to show me how to do that someday.’ He stood up, shrouded in smoke, and turned to the young woman, who appeared to have recovered from her fainting spell. ‘Please thank your mistress for a wonderful performance.’

  Erebus noticed Collins trying to pry Wilson’s hands from around his bicep. ‘Are you all right, Wilson?’

  ‘Ggghhhhosts,’ squeaked Wilson.

  ‘Oh, come on, Wilson, you don’t believe in ghosts,’ said Erebus.

  ‘What about that other creepy stuff, the serpent’s path?’

  Erebus laughed. ‘It just means, don’t go straight there, keep a sentry and make sure we are not followed, that’s all.’

  But what about the ghosts?’ whined Wilson.

  TWENTY

  MAL Laboratories, Nebulosity

  The MAL Laboratories were contained inside a cloudscraper on the outskirts of Nebulosity. MAL stood for Main Azurien Laboratories, and James pointed out, quite rightly, that the term MAL Laboratories was a tautology – a term his teacher had drilled into his head only last year. Cirro seemed impressed, and agreed wholeheartedly.

  James peered out of the hopper window. Even though he had a sinking feeling in his stomach, he couldn’t help but snigger when he saw the neon signs hanging from MAL Labs’ tall wire fence. They showed a stickman being electrocuted over and over each time lightning struck it.

  They arrived at the front entrance boom-gate, and pulled up between two guards standing at attention. Cirro flashed his ID at the closest guard, who took a long look at James, then waved them through.

  ‘There’s a lot of security here, isn’t there?’ said James, noticing more guards positioned at various points around the front of the complex.

  ‘MAL Laboratories has many important projects,’ said Cirro.

  As the building loomed larger, James suddenly wondered if the doctor viewed him as a project. Kawasaki was a scientist after all. James sank in his seat a little. He’d spent so much time with the doctor he almost considered him a friend, but maybe he was nothing more than a lab rat to the doctor.

  ‘Is something wrong?’ Cirro asked. ‘Are you feeling unwell? Was it the steamed sea-cucumber?’

  James shook his head. ‘No, I’m fine. It didn’t taste that bad.’ He hesitated, looked at Cirro with raised eyebrows. ‘Am I a lab rat?’

  Cirro’s face turned to one of concern. ‘I know it may feel like that at times, but please believe me, that is not our intention,’ he said. ‘We are only trying to look after you. Those tests you have been doing, they are only to better understand you.’

  James cocked his head to the side. ‘If I wanted to go home, I could?’ he asked, hopeful, but the look on Cirro’s face told him all he needed to know.

  ‘It would be irresponsible of us to let you go back to an empty house,’ said Cirro, firmly but gently. ‘Leaving Nebulosity would be a bad idea. You are safe with us.’ No comment had been made about James’s short disappearance before lunch, but there was something in the Primary Agent’s voice that made James wonder if he knew that James had already tried to leave.

  ‘I just want to see my parents again,’ said James, dropping his head. ‘I miss them.’

  ‘We will find them,’ said Cirro.

  James gave a small nod, then sat up straight and took a deep breath and released it. ‘Okay.’ When the hopper pulled up, Kawasaki was waiting at the laboratory steps. He was dressed in his usual lab coat and spectacles, but his grey hair and goatee appeared more ruffled and neglected than normal.

  Totally pulling off the mad professor look, thought James.

  ‘Afternoon, gentlemen,’ said Kawasaki. He shook James’s hand and then started up the steps. ‘Follow me. We need to sort out your visitor’s pass.’

  James shot a quizzical look at Cirro. He’d not seen the doctor in such a hurry before.

  Cirro gave a shrug. ‘After you,’ he said with a sweep of his hand.

  Kawasaki showed them into a small office and immediately stood James on a platform where a beam of light scanned him from head to toe. Moments later, the doctor handed James a badge with his details on it: height, weight, number of teeth and so on. In the top left-hand corner, a hologram showed front, side and back views of James’s head.

  ‘Cool!’ said James, wiggling the card to make his hologram-head revolve just like in the movie, Exorcist .

  ‘Come on,’ beckoned Kawasaki, heading for the door.

  ‘What about Cirro? Doesn’t he need a visitor’s pass?’

  ‘Being the Primary Agent of NIB gives me certain liberties,’ said Cirro with a polite smile.

  ‘This way,’ said Kawasaki a little impatiently.

  He led them down a long corridor, past numerous closed doors. They had nearly reached the end when James noticed a glow coming from an open door just ahead. The doctor walked straight by, but James stopped and peered in. The room contained heaps of 3D images, hanging in the air. They were being projected from long, narrow cylinders lined up around the walls.

  ‘Whoa! What are they?’ said James.

  Cirro looked at the doctor. ‘Should he be seeing this?’ Kawasaki smiled and gave the Primary Agent a reassuring nod. ‘It’s okay. Go in James and have a look around.’

  ‘But do not touch anything,’ added Cirro as James stepped in.

  ‘We are running 4D images,’ explained Kawasaki, putting his hands in his lab coat pockets and strolling into the room.

  James raised an eyebrow. ‘4D?’

  ‘The fourth dimension is time,’ said Kawasaki.

  James knew what 4D meant. He just didn’t see anything special about it, since they lived in a 4D world.

  ‘The images that you are seeing are based on a logarithm that projects events into the future,’ continued Kawasaki ‘Depending on the probabilities, and what is actually occurring, the images can be fast-forwarded several hours and, on rare occasions, into tomorrow.’

  James drew close to one of the images – a coniferous forest with snow-capped mountains in the distance – maybe somewhere in Canada. It wasn’t a bird’s eye view; it was like he was really there. ‘These don’t look like satellite images, how do you . . . ?’

  ‘We use micro-sensors called Smartdust,’ said Kawasaki. He touched one of the trees and the image zoomed in until all James could see was the bark. Some type of beetle was crawling slowly up the trunk. The doctor touched the image again and the beetle sped up, but, just before it disappeared from view, a bird flew in from past James’s shoulder, and snatched the bug from the trunk.

  James jerked back. He was used to viewing 3D with goggles, but this was something else entirely. ‘So, that just happened somewhere in the world?’

  ‘No. That is going to happen in another hour.’

  ‘The beetle’s still alive?’

  ‘For another hour.’

  James took a moment, thinking. Slowly, he said, ‘Are you telling me that you can see into the future?’

  ‘We can observe likely futures with a high degree of accuracy.’

  Wow, James mouthed, then said out loud, ‘You can see what I’m going to do tomorrow?’

  ‘No. We would have to micro-monitor you for several years before we could predict your future, and it would only be a few hours ahead, at best.’

  James’ eyes widened. ‘But it’s possible?’

  ‘Well, yes. But that’s not our aim. We scan
the globe to better understand the effects that humans and other organ-isms have on the planet. And the longer we do this, the lower the conflicting probabilities become and the further into the future we can observe.’

  James shook his head, gazing at the floating images. ‘That’s amazing. It’s like Google Earth, but a million times better.’

  ‘Mmm, a million times more expensive too,’ muttered Cirro from somewhere behind them.

  James drew a sharp breath and turned to the doctor, excited. ‘Can you show me my house?’

  Kawasaki and Cirro exchanged a glance. ‘I don’t know how clear the image will be,’ Kawasaki said. ‘There might not be enough Smartdust in the area.’

  James put his hands together. ‘Please try.’

  Cirro came and stood beside James and gave Kawasaki a small nod of approval.

  ‘Thank you,’ said James to both of them, as Kawasaki began to alter the co-ordinates on one of the projections. He felt his pulse quicken. How he wanted to see home again.

  A hazy, creamy-brown image materialised. James tilted his head and squinted, trying to make sense of it.

  ‘Wait a sec,’ said Kawasaki. He zoomed out on the image. ‘A little further,’ he muttered.

  James suddenly realised what he was viewing. ‘That’s our back door!’ he said. Though the image wasn’t perfect, he felt like he was standing right in front of it. He stepped closer and reached for the door handle.

  ‘It’s not real, James,’ said Kawasaki, softly.

  The image zoomed out further and James saw that all the windows were closed and the blinds pulled down. The house was shut tight. His heart sank. His parents really weren’t there. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

  ‘I’m sorry, James,’ said Kawasaki, placing a hand on his shoulder. ‘I can see that this is distressing.’

  James stared at the back door, trying desperately not to blink in case tears escaped. This made the door handle seem as if it was turning. If only, he thought. And then the door swung open and . . .

  ‘Darren!’ shouted James, pointing. He looked at Cirro and the doctor. ‘Darren,’ he said again. It was the only word that would come out of his mouth. He felt like doing back flips and somersaults, but bounced up and down instead. He missed his best friend.

  Darren was dressed in jeans and a baggy t-shirt bearing the Aboriginal flag. He had a black cap tilted slightly down over his face.

  ‘Can you turn up the sound?’ asked James.

  ‘There is no sound,’ said Kawasaki. ‘Not enough Smartdust.’

  Darren paused and glanced back at the house. James stopped bouncing. ‘What’s he looking at?’ A man in an ill-fitting beige suit, who appeared to be talking rapidly on the phone, emerged from the house, and James started. ‘Who the hell is THAT?’

  TWENTY-ONE

  MAL Laboratories, Nebulosity

  The man’s face was flushed as he spoke on the phone. He nodded several times, which the person on the other end couldn’t see. Then, at one point, looking puzzled, he seemed to consider Darren as he shook his head. Finally, he clicked off and stowed his phone back in his jacket, went over to Darren, a few metres away, and said something. Darren shrugged, took off his cap and ran a slow hand through his messy hair. There were dark crescents beneath his eyes and he looked as if he’d lost weight. James swallowed a lump in his throat. He’d never seen his friend looking so drained. Darren retrieved something, maybe a card or a photo, out of his jeans pocket and handed it to the agent, who raised his eyebrows at the sight of it.

  ‘Is this real time, Doctor, or in the future?’ Cirro asked. Kawasaki quickly began doing some calculations on screen, slowly shook his head. ‘It’s impossible to tell so early on in the viewing.’

  ‘Who is that man?’ asked James again, wanting one of them to answer him.

  ‘He looks like a cop from the 70s,’ he heard Kawasaki mutter.

  ‘That is Agent Cavum,’ said Cirro, sounding annoyed. Agent Cavum and Darren started walking out of view. ‘He is supposed to be on surveillance duty.’

  ‘Of my house?’ said James, wondering why he felt surprised. If NIB were trying to locate his parents, it made sense that they would be monitoring his house.

  Cirro pulled out his Supasmart and lifted it to his ear. ‘He has no authority to interact with anyone.’

  ‘What are you doing?’ said Kawasaki, looking alarmed. ‘We can’t interfere with . . .’

  Cirro silenced him with a finger. ‘Agent Cavum, why have you broken protocol?’ he barked into the phone. ‘Compromised, how?’

  James tried to lean in a little closer, but Cirro shot him a look and he backed away.

  ‘What? Why are you back in the house?’ Kawasaki went to interject, then thought better of it.

  ‘Were you relaying that information to Operations?’ Cirro frowned. ‘You were on the phone . . . My intel is not faulty, Agent Cavum. I . . .’ He broke off, realisation dawning. Hurriedly, he said, ‘The boy has something in his pocket that may help us with our investigations. Make sure you retrieve it.’ Cirro clicked off and turned to Kawasaki, but the doctor just crossed his arms and glared at the Primary Agent.

  James looked from one to the other, wondering who was going to break silence first, but it seemed there was a standoff. ‘What we saw was the future, right?’

  Kawasaki nodded, still glaring at Cirro. ‘What we saw was Agent Cavum talking to you, Primary Agent, so it was not wise to stop you from interfering, because you already had.’ He trailed off with, ‘If that makes sense.’

  Weirdly, it did make perfect sense, thought James. ‘However,’ Kawasaki continued, ‘you could have brought about complete chaos.’

  Cirro’s jaw twitched. His apology consisted of two words, ‘I understand.’

  ~

  In the few weeks James had known Kawasaki, he had never seen him so excited. The three of them were standing in front of a large display cabinet, illuminated by purple light. Hanging inside was a hooded leather jacket, a black T-shirt with I’ve got altitude scrawled across it in red, some denim jeans and a pair of running shoes. James and Cirro looked at each other, puzzled.

  Kawasaki clasped his hands behind his back and breathed deeply. ‘What do you think?’ he said.

  ‘Um . . .’ said James, not sure what he was supposed to say; he wasn’t much into fashion. ‘They’re clothes.’

  ‘Precisely!’ said Kawasaki. ‘They’re your new clothes.’

  ‘Huh?’ James tugged on the collar of the shirt he was wearing. ‘I’ve already been given new clothes, heaps of them.’ He gazed down at his bright blue runners, the only things that were actually his. His mum had bought them for him only a few months back. Suddenly he felt homesick again.

  ‘I know,’ said Kawasaki. ‘But these ones have been specially designed, using our latest fabric technology.’ He slid the cabinet door back, reached in and retrieved the jacket. ‘I’m thinking of calling it – wait for it – The Suit.’

  ‘Very original,’ mumbled Cirro under his breath.

  ‘We used the dimensions from your visitor’s scan to tailor these to your exact body shape.’

  James eyed the jacket. It did look very cool. ‘You can make clothes that quick?’

  ‘Matter of minutes,’ Kawasaki replied. ‘They’ll be much more comfortable than the clothes you have on now. And no need for thermals. They’re even self-cleaning!’ Kawasaki removed the rest of the clothes from the cabinet and shoved them all into James’s arms. ‘Go and try them on.’ He shooed him towards what looked like a utilities cupboard. ‘I’ll explain more when you come out.’

  James stepped inside and closed the door. It wasn’t a utilities cupboard, just a small, empty room. He hurriedly stripped off and pulled on his new jeans. The doctor was right, he hadn’t felt a more comfortable pair of jeans. He jumped up and down a few times, did some squats. They were amazingly smooth and flexible for denim. He quickly slipped on the rest. The T-shirt felt almost like silk, and the jacket was so light
and supple he could barely believe he was wearing it. The shoes felt like he was standing on air, and he knew what that felt like. He really wished there was a mirror to see if he looked as awesome as he felt.

  There was a knock on the door. ‘You done?’ James heard Cirro ask.

  James gripped the door handle, took a deep breath and then stepped out of the room. Cirro gave a wolf whistle and James felt his whole face burn hot.

  Kawasaki walked around James, inspecting the clothing. ‘How do they feel?’

  ‘Um, pretty good,’ mumbled James.

  ‘You’ve probably guessed that the clothes aren’t made from leather or denim,’ said Kawasaki.

  ‘They’re not?’

  ‘It’s a special organic alloy. Very similar to the material cloud hoppers are made from.’

  ‘Really?’ said James, inspecting the material a little more closely.

  ‘It has adaptable properties and can adjust to any physical condition. Very useful at high altitudes, wouldn’t you agree?’

  James cocked his head at the doctor. ‘Are you giving me permission to fly around Nebulosity?’

  ‘Ah, no,’ Kawasaki replied, shooting a glance in Cirro’s direction. The doctor retrieved what appeared to be a fire extinguisher off the wall. ‘Let me demonstrate some of the suit’s properties. Put your hood up,’ he said, advancing on James.

  ‘Doctor? What are you doing?’ said Cirro.

  Kawasaki ignored him. ‘Put your hood up,’ he repeated. James backed away and quickly flipped up his hood.

  ‘Um . . . Doctor? I don’t think you’re supposed to use them on people, especially when they’re not on fire!’

  A flicker of a smile crossed Kawasaki’s face as he discharged the extinguisher straight at James’ head.

  James gasped, threw up his arms to protect himself, but there had been no need as the hood had instantly moulded, covering his face. He stumbled and fell backwards, felt his jeans cushion his fall. A moment later, the hood released its shielding grip and James peered out in shock, certain that the doctor was as mad as he looked.

  ‘See, nothing to worry about. The suit protected you automatically,’ said Kawasaki. ‘Doctor, I don’t know what to say.’ James scrambled to his feet. ‘That was incredible!’